The Invincibles
by Caley3324
Summary: There is another boy's school that comes to Gallagher, but they aren't what anyone would expect. This was a story idea from XOXOKISSKISS.
1. Before the Storm

**AN: This is a story idea request that I received from XOXOKISSKISS and I would appreciate you letting me know what you think of it, because I'm still a little unsure. Thanks!**

_**Before the Storm**_

Chances are, you've never heard of the school called the Ghengis Academy. If you have heard of it, then I guess you have at least a level six clearance, but probably higher than that. To know about the Ghengis Academy is the highest honor; for they never share their secrets, and for them to trust you with their name means that they respect you.

The Ghengis Academy is not a normal school. The young men that train there are the best in the world; one does not simply decide to attend. And once you are accepted into the academy, you don't leave without permission. You train from sunup to sundown, and you become a member of the elite. There are only eighteen Ghengis Academy graduates in our world today, not including the six young men of which this story is about. The Ghengis graduates are the ones that people turn to when no one else can get the job done. They are, in a word, invincible.

The academy itself is invincible. It is a stronghold located in a mountain range that shall not be named. The natural barriers of the mountain are enough to keep anyone away, but they also have a laser grid system along with security cameras and dozens of other traps to snare unwanted people. But if someone did manage to get past all of these security measures, they would not like what they found in the heart of the mountain. Strangers may occasionally go in, but those same strangers never make it out.

….

"What were you thinking, anyway?"

"Not now, Michael," Scotty managed to say through tightly clenched teeth. He was grateful that Michael had been concerned enough to come looking for him, but he didn't want to listen to a speech. Not yet, anyway. He knew that the Sapiêns would be coming in to speak with him later, but he wanted to put it off for as long as he possibly could.

Michael was equally frustrated, though it had far less to do with pain and the knowledge that he would be reprimanded and was due, rather, to the slow going that he was having to endure. He was half-dragging Scotty through the snow, but they kept having to stop so that Michael could cover the drag tracks and try to hide the red streaks of blood that were staining the snow as they moved.

Michael once again covered their tracks and they began moving again. "Just another mile," Michael said, though it was unclear exactly who he was trying to encourage.

"Thank God," Scotty said and then let out a stream of Farsi curse words as his broken leg grazed a hidden rock.

"Potty mouth," Michael mumbled, but he understood. Breaks were a common occurrence at the Ghengis Academy, and he'd endured several himself. He knew the pain that they brought on.

"Were you the one that noticed me missing?" Scotty asked, thinking that conversation would aid in taking his mind off of the pain. It didn't ease much, but he was genuinely curious.

"Sort of," Michael said and stopped so that he could once again cover their tracks. Once he had returned, he put Scotty's arm around his shoulder and they took off again, half a mile still left to go. "The Sapiên came to get us out of our recreational time. You weren't there for the roll call."

Scotty winced. Missing the roll call wouldn't bode well for him. "So, you volunteered to come and get me?"

"Lucky for you," Michael mumbled and let out a breath that turned into white mist in the chilly air. "Drake said that he was pretty sure you'd gone out, though he didn't know what for. No one else wanted to come and fetch your sorry butt."

"Thanks for the sacrifice." The pain was becoming too much and Scotty closed his eyes against the flurry of black dots. "I think I'm gonna pass out."

"Don't," Michael ground out. "I am _not_ dragging your dead weight around. We're almost at the quarter mile mark."

"How are we going to get past the lasers and stuff?" Scotty asked, though he really didn't care what the solution would be. He just wanted someone to fix his leg.

"Not sure yet," Michael admitted and set his friend down. "Haven't thought that far ahead. Why don't you think about that while I go back and cover our tracks?"

"You've gotta be kidding me," Scotty muttered as he watched Michael walk away.

When Michael came back, Scotty readily admitted that he hadn't even tried to think about it. "Can't you just go in and get them to turn them off?"

"We're still going to have to get past the trenches," Michael reminded him. "Unless you want to hike another five miles to get to the other entrance."

"But then we'll have to zip-line!"

Michael shrugged. He was losing sympathy fast, quite honestly. Being out in the freezing cold could do that to you. "Life's full of tough decisions, huh? Tell me what you want to do."

"You're the laser grid champ," Scotty told him. "Can't you figure something out?"

"Sure," Michael said and stood. He pointed to an invisible spot just a few yards ahead. "The first line is right there. The pattern is pretty simple, which I'm sure you already know. I think I can get you through it."

"You _think_."

"Got anything better?"

Scotty groaned. "I don't know why I had to go snowboarding."

Michael froze and then exploded. "I had to hunt for you for an hour, drag you twenty miles, and now have to get you through a laser grid because you decided to go _snowboarding_?"

Scotty shrugged sheepishly. "I, uh, I got the board hidden."

"Invalid," Michael grumbled and then heaved his friend to his feet, ignoring Scotty's cries of pain. "Stand on both feet. I don't care if your legs are broken."

Scotty gritted his teeth and did as Michael said.

Michael led him up to where he knew the first line was. "Step over."

"How far?"

"Ten inches."

Scotty glanced back at him. "What if you're wrong?"

"You're right. Why don't you go ahead and tell me where that snowboard is?"

Scotty gulped, but he knew that Michael was just kidding. Michael was the best at the mountain, and everybody knew that. He was going to grow up to be the best graduate that Ghengis Academy had ever trained. His possibilities were endless.

He stepped over and Michael followed close behind. "This will be hard, but follow my lead."

Scotty nodded.

Michael made a series of jumps and then stopped and turned back to Scotty. "Got that?"

It was slow going, but they finally made it around the laser grid. At the base of the mountain. Michael slapped the side while Scotty sank to the ground, close to blacking out.

"Hey, Gibbs!" Michael called. "Wanna send some help out here? Or at least open the door!"

Suddenly, a section of the mountain slid up, revealing a wide, dark tunnel. Michael called out a quick thank you and then slung Scotty up into a fireman's carry. "Come on, man. Stay with me."

"I'm here," Scotty murmured, though he was having to fight the darkness.

Michael began to make his way through the maze in the dark, not the least bit hesitant. Sometimes, he would have dreams about running through these tunnels in the darkness. So, essentially, he could do it in his sleep. It was a part of him. A part of all of them that lived here. Even the graduates sometimes returned and it was always stunning to see them making their way through the tunnels as easily as the students could. Michael knew that this place would never truly leave him.

At the main cavern, Michael began to head for the tunnel that would take him to the infirmary, but he was stopped by the Sapiên's voice. "No. We must talk now."

Michael saw that everyone was gathered, seemingly waiting for him. "Scotty…"

"Will live," he replied. "Set him down and attend to him as we talk."

Michael nodded and did as he was told. "You lost a lot of blood," he whispered, now worried about his friend, his brother.

Scotty nodded his head slowly. "I know."

The Sapiên stood and adjusted his robes. "Now that you are all here, I have an announcement."

Michael took a towel offered to him by Drake and wound it around Scotty's leg, being sure to tie it tight.

"For the first time in history, the students of the Ghengis Academy will be going away from our mountain to train."

Everyone stared in shock.

This simply wasn't done.

The Sapiên continued. "We will be going to the Gallagher Academy."

It was silent until Michael asked, "_Where?"_


	2. Suspicions

**__AN: Wow! I got 10 reviews! That's awesome; you guys are amazing! Keep this up and there will probably be a chapter per day. Lol**

_**Suspicions**_

Though Michael didn't quite know what the Gallagher Academy was or where it was located, if you're reading this, then you probably do. The Gallagher Academy is in Virginia. It is unlike the Ghengis Academy in many ways, but perhaps the biggest difference is that while the Ghengis Academy is hidden in the heart of a mighty mountain, the Gallagher Academy flaunts its existence. The Ghengis Academy is never even whispered about, but the Gallagher Academy is frequently a topic of discussion, especially among the citizens of Roseville, who take one look at the manicured grounds and tall stone walls and roll their eyes, whispering about rich billionaire heiresses.

The Gallagher Academy has another major difference from the Genghis Academy: the difference in the number and gender of its students. The Ghengis Academy has only six students, and they are all male. The Gallagher Academy has four times that many students, and they are all female. But, the Gallagher Academy trains their students well, mind you. Very well.

….

"This sucks."

"Focus, Bex."

"I'm focusing!" Bex insisted, and then yelled out an apology to the group of eighth graders that she had just accidentally shot an arrow at. "Sorry! My bad!"

Cammie Morgan rolled her eyes and picked up an arrow before she fitted it against the string.

"This would be a lot easier if it wasn't opposite hand day," Bex said as she tried once again to hit the target that was set up sixty yards away. "Sorry, Professor Buckingham!"

Patricia Buckingham shot Bex a look before she continued on her way.

Cammie pulled the string back, took a deep breath, and released. The arrow sailed fairly straight, but her aim was off and she missed the target. She let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't think it matters that it's opposite hand day. I can't shoot a bow and arrow anyway."

"Archery is ridiculous," Bex agreed and tossed her luscious hair over one shoulder. "Who do they think we're going to be fighting? Robin Hood?"

"I like archery," Tina Walters said. No one had invited her to join the conversation, but Tina never thought that she needed an invitation. "You never know when it will come in handy."

"I can only think of one thing it would be handy for," Bex muttered as she picked up another arrow and aimed it. "And that would be shutting Tina Walters up."

"Bex!" Cammie gasped in shock and her arrow flew towards the group of eighth graders, who decided that it was much better to move than to partake in target practice. "Sorry!"

"I didn't mean hit her, Cam," Bex clarified and shot another arrow. "Missed again. Anyway, I just meant shoot it at her and scare her."

"Sure," Cammie rolled her eyes. "How much longer do we have to do this?"

"Dunno," Bex responded with a shrug, which didn't do anything to help her aim. "But I'm not looking forward to Solomon's class. Who knows what he'll make us do, and knowing him, it'll probably be something that I'll never be able to do left handed. And you know he'll call me on it."

"Notes in Countries was bad enough," Cammie agreed. "You'd figure that we'd have the hang of it by junior year."

"Okay, girls. That's enough of target practice!"

"Thank God!" Cammie and Bex called at the same time and moved to put the equipment away.

"I don't think anyone hit the target," Bex noted.

"Nope."

"Wonder what the boys had to do," Bex said, but both she and Cammie were almost positive that they'd been doing some target practice, too. But with guns. The Gallagher Academy didn't want their students to learn how to use guns until their senior year, but the boys from Blackthorne had grown up in a completely different environment, and they always seemed to be the exception.

As they headed back towards the mansion, Zach fell into step beside Cammie. "Ladies, how was target practice?"

Cammie knew that the headache would begin shortly. Zach had a way of saying things that he never really explained, leaving both Cammie and her roommates with headaches. It seemed that none of them would ever understand the boys from Blackthorne.

"Fine," Bex said gruffly, not wanting to admit that none of them had been able to hit the target. She didn't like being bested by anyone, but especially not the boys. A Gallagher Girl through and through.

"How was yours?" Cammie asked politely. She had decided long ago that the best strategy would be to be as polite as possible and see what (if anything) slipped.

"Fine," Zach replied with a smile that drove Cammie crazy. It clearly said _I know something you don't know and I'm loving it_. And it was times like these when Cammie found herself missing Josh. Things had been so simple with him… Except for the sneaking out and lying and…. Never mind. But it really had been simpler, in a way, because there hadn't been anything to figure out about him. He was simply… Josh.

Being on an elevator with Zach reminded Cammie of the first time she had ridden in an elevator. The time when she had thought that he was simply a boy. The time that he had bested her. And he was still besting her. He knew more about her than she did about him, and she didn't like that one bit.

"Last class before lunch," Bex commented and right on cue, her stomach growled. "Hope crème cake is on the menu."

"We haven't had that in a while," Cammie agreed, but she knew what Bex was doing. Neither of them liked the guys to know anything important about them, so they always kept the conversations casual when they were around.

"Ladies, take a seat," Mr. Solomon said as soon as they were through the door. "And gentlemen," he added as an afterthought.

The rest of the class filed in and everyone took a seat. Unfortunately, Zach sat beside Cammie. Bex took the other side and gave Cammie a small smile for sympathy.

"Today, ladies, we'll be exploring the art of knowledge." Mr. Solomon sat on the edge of his desk and every person in the room sat up a little taller, literally and figuratively rising to the challenge.

"Ms. Morrison," he said. "I need to know which female gymnast won the gold medal on floor in the 2004 Olympics."

Mick's eyes widened. So did everyone else's, for that matter. "Umm…"

"Anyone?" Mr. Solomon asked.

People looked around, but nobody had an answer.

"Shannon Miller?" Anna finally guessed.

"No guessed," Mr. Solomon said and stood up. "If you don't know, keep silent. No, it was not Shannon Miller. Shannon Miller competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics."

"How does Mr. Solomon know so much about gymnastics?" Bex whispered.

"Because, Ms. Baxter, I am aware. You will take the next question."

Needless to say, no one got their question right. This led to a lecture, which led to everyone feeling inadequate.

"I doubt that even Liz would have gotten any of those," Bex commented as they headed out of the room.

"They were hard," Cammie agreed.

Zach was silent, still inwardly beating himself up for not knowing the answer to his question. Who had won the World Series in 1990? He had no idea. He wasn't a baseball fan. Stupid.

"Run up to the room with me real quick," Bex requested and then glared at Zach. She didn't like guys that led her best friend on. Not that there had been very many of those. "Not you."

"Wasn't planning on coming," Zach retorted and got into the elevator opposite them.

"Why do you need to go up to the room?" Cammie asked.

Bex held up her index finger and looked around to make sure no one else was in the elevator. "Band-Aid. Scratched it on an arrow. Hurts like you can't imagine."

Actually, Cammie could imagine, but she didn't say so. Wounding Bex's pride would not be a very smart idea. So, once they were off the elevator, they headed for the stairs instead of the entrance to the kitchen, from which the Italian language was being spoken.

"Ugh," Bex groaned as they climbed the stairs. "I just realized that I'm going to have to eat left handed!"

Cammie bit back her smile. "Yeah; that sucks."

"Shut up," Bex muttered, knowing that her friend wasn't being serious.

"Shh," Cammie said suddenly and grabbed Bex's arm, pulling her to a stop.

"Wha-"

"Shh," Cammie said again.

From Headmistress Morgan's office came voices. "Cammie still has no idea. I was careful to keep this very secretive."

"More so than Blackthorne?" That was clearly Mr. Solomon's voice.

"Yes," Cammie's mother said. "More so than Blackthorne. This is a huge deal."

"I realize that."

Bex looked at Cammie questioningly, but Cammie shrugged. Her mom was a good spy and she had kept this situation _very_ secret. Whatever it was that Cammie didn't know, Cammie _really_ didn't know.

"Great," Bex muttered. "Another secret."

"Apparently a bigger one than Blackthorne," Cammie said and she and Bex quietly slunk off to find Liz and Macey.


	3. The Mystery

_**The Mystery**_

"This can't be happening again," Macey McHenry muttered as she carefully applied another coat of blue nail polish to the nail of her index finger. "Last time there was a big secret that Cammie didn't know, we ended up meeting Blackthorne. And how has that gone for us so far?"

"Headache," Bex agreed and sighed as she sank down onto her bed, which never seemed to be made. She didn't like being out of the loop, so of course she would want to know what was going on. And she would go to great lengths to figure it out.

"It's not like there are any other schools," Cammie said, though she felt a little bit unsure. She pulled her straightened hair up into a ponytail and secured it. "Are there?"

Liz was typing away madly on her laptop. "It's a possibility, Cam. _Anything's_ a possibility in our world. And don't you remember what Buckingham said when we were asking her if there were any spy schools?"

"Yeah," Cammie replied and sat cross-legged in the center of her bed. "When we were trying to get her to let something slip about Blackthorne."

Liz nodded, still not looking away from the computer screen. "She said (and I quote): _During the Cold War, the concept of recruiting and training operatives at a young age was not an uncommon practice. And there _may_ have been institutions formed for that purpose. For obvious reasons, it is impossible to determine if any such schools are in existence now. If they ever existed at all, of course."_

"This whole perfect recall thing is a little creepy," Macey commented and screwed the lid back into place before setting the nail polish on her bedside table. "So, is there a possibility that there's another spy school?"

"Like Liz said: _Anything_ is a possibility in our world," Bex pointed out and laid back on her bed, closing her eyes, trying to concentrate.

"Do you think that's what it is?"

Cammie shook her head. "I don't. There can't be another school, guys. One for boys, one for girls. We would have heard if there was another one."

"Like we heard about Blackthorne?" Liz challenged.

Cammie sighed. "Okay, you've got me there. But it has to be something else. I mean, when the boys came here, there were all kinds of signs. The East Wing was shut off, for one. Nothing like that has happened here. No one else can be coming."

Her three roommates seemed to accept this.

"So, then, what _is_ going on?" Bex asked, sitting up again. "Cam, did you notice anything _at all_ over the summer? Anything strange?"

"Aside from my grandma pulling the heads off of a dozen or so chickens, no, nothing strange."

Macey looked a little grossed out. "She pulled of their _heads_? Like with her bare hands?"

"Focus!" Liz reprimanded and sighed as she set the laptop away from her. "So, Cam, you never even knew that anything was wrong until you overheard your mom and Mr. Solomon talking, right?"

"Right," Cammie confirmed.

Liz, the super genius, was baffled. "I have no idea what it could be."

"Maybe we could-"

"No, Bex!" Cammie interrupted. "I am _not_ going to sneak into my mom's office again."

Bex shrugged innocently. "It worked last time."

"True," Macey said. "Come on, Cam, don't you think-"

"No," Cammie said adamantly and moved for the bathroom so that she could brush her teeth while they debated on what to do. "Find another way."

"There _is_ no other way," Bex said, following Cammie into the bathroom. "We don't have a clue where to start."

Cammie knew that this was true. And, her weekly lunch with her mother was the following day. She had the perfect opportunity. What kind of spy would she be if she passed that kind of opportunity up? But what kind of daughter would she be if she did snoop around?

Bex's expression softened. "Okay, Cam; I get it. You'd feel horrible. What if you just somehow managed to get her out of her office so that Macey and I could go in?"

Cammie sighed and shook her head as she unscrewed the cap at the top of the toothpaste tube. "I can't do it, Bex. I'm sorry, but I just can't do it."

Bex let out a sigh and gave her best friend a small smile. "It's okay, Cam. It really is."

But after Bex left the bathroom, Cammie felt the guilt wash over her. It seemed like this was all a catch-22.

…

Cammie went to her usual weekly dinner with her mom and did absolutely no snooping. Instead, she talked with her mom about classes as if she weren't the headmistress and she even ate plenty of the disgusting microwave crab cakes. When she left the office, she felt a little bad that she hadn't wanted to help her friends out, but she felt like a good daughter.

And her roommates didn't blame her. They were all close friends and everyone understood.

So, they went about their lives like normal. Well… as normal as could be under the circumstances. See, Gallagher wasn't as normal as it had used to be. Gallagher was an all-girl's spy school. But lately, the boys of Blackthorne had been integrated into their school "for the time being" (whatever _that_ was supposed to mean). No one knew how long they would be there, but they had been there for a while.

For breakfast, Cammie munched on bacon while she wondered what in the world her mother and Mr. Solomon could be hiding. Macey had suggested that they were in a secret relationship, but Cammie knew better. Her mom would have confronted her with such a thing.

Bex noticed her best friend's quietness and nudged her. "Cam, it's not a big deal. We'll find out eventually."

But it was a _huge_ deal, and Cammie knew it. If only she had agreed to snoop around in her mother's office, they would know by now.

The girls headed to COW, where Macey was almost positive she bombed the quiz. Liz knew that she had aced it, though. Cammie and Bex felt like they missed a couple of easy ones simply because their minds were occupied.

"Something on your mind, Gallagher Girl?" Zach asked when he fell into step beside Cammie after class.

"She's wondering when you all will be going back to your _own_ school," Bex said, stepping up to Cammie's other side. "Wherever _that_ is."

Zach smirked because he loved knowing something that they didn't know.

"Wonder what we'll be doing for CoveOps," Cammie pondered. She had a feeling that Mr. Solomon's class would be the perfect distraction from the questions running around in her head. The quiz over African countries and their currencies hadn't done the trick.

Liz branched off from the small group. "I'll see you guys at lunch, I guess."

Bex and Cammie still couldn't get over the fact that Liz no longer had every class with them. She had made the choice to go into the less dangerous side of the spy world. Bex and Cammie, however, had chosen Covert Operations. They were to be field agents. Liz would be safe behind a computer somewhere.

"See you," Bex and Cammie replied.

Macey had already departed from the group.

Zach, Bex, and Cammie went down the stairs together, and Bex saw this as the perfect opportunity to quiz Zach some more about his school, which the boys always protected like some big secret. As mentioned before, Bex didn't like being out of the loop. No, she much preferred to be _in_ the loop. "So, Zach, where did you say your school was?"

"I didn't," Zach shot her a smirk. "And I won't. You can stop trying now."

"Doubtful," Bex responded with venom in her voice. She would find out one way or another. When Bex Baxter was determined, nothing could stand in her way. Cammie knew from experience, but Zach didn't quite yet. He would find out soon enough, Bex decided, and she backed away from the subject.

Cammie was the first to see the note. "Class is outside today."

Some people might have found that odd, but spies are used to plans being changed at the last minute. So, Zach, Cammie, and Bex made their way outside, where a small group was already standing.

A minute later, a helicopter came flying low over the trees and landed in front of them. Mr. Solomon waved from the doorway and called out through his bullhorn: "Pop quiz!"

"Not another one," Bex muttered. The last pop quiz had led to them being humiliated by Blackthorne. Well… technically only Cammie had been one-upped by a Blackthorne boy. But that was enough.

"Scared, Baxter?" Zach taunted and ran towards the helicopter.

Bex gritted her teeth. "Not a chance, _Goode_." And she went running after him.

Cammie allowed a small smile to flit across her face before she followed after her best friend.


	4. Shown Up

**Hey everyone! Thanks so much for your awesome reviews! I'm going out of town for a couple of weeks and I'll try to update as soon as I can, but I wanted to get this chaper up for sure before I left! **

_**Shown Up**_

Bex was asleep again. Of course. Bex could sleep anywhere. But with Bex asleep, Cammie was left to sit awake, next to the boy who both infuriated and enchanted her. She felt completely lost without someone to help her.

Zach was leaning back against the side of the helicopter, his eyes closed, though Cammie knew that he was wide awake. And his arm kept grazing hers, which was driving her insane. She had thought about moving, but Bex's head was on her shoulder and she didn't want to wake her just yet.

Dilemma.

"So," Zach said conversationally. "Ready for another challenge?"

"Always," Cammie answered and stared straight ahead at Tina, who was trying to get an answer out of an unyielding Mr. Solomon.

"Well, better hope it's not boys versus girls, then."

"You may have beaten me once, Zach, but it won't happen again," Cammie promised.

"We'll see," Zach said. "You're talented, Gallagher Girl, but talent isn't always enough."

Cammie looked over at him and found that he hadn't moved an inch. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Zach shrugged and let out a breath. "Nothing. Just saying."

He drove her absolutely insane.

A short while into the flight, Mr. Solomon stood and Cammie shook Bex awake so that she wouldn't miss the instructions.

"When we land, there will be a large moving truck waiting. Everyone will get in. Everyone will remain _quiet_."

Cammie smiled because she knew that last sentence was solely meant for Tina.

Sure enough, when the helicopter landed, a large moving truck was waiting on the shoulder of a road. Before they could be seen, the boys and girls climbed into the back of the van, followed by Mr. Solomon, who closed the door behind him.

The van began to move.

Cammie tried to pay attention to where it was going, but she didn't even know where they were. She hadn't been blindfolded on the helicopter ride, but she had neglected to pay attention and that made her angry. She should have been paying attention.

Suddenly, it seemed that there was a lot of noise going on outside of the van. Were they in a bigger city? Washington D.C. had been this loud.

"The instructions are fairly simple," Mr. Solomon said after thirty minutes of dead silence.

Everyone stared at him in the darkness, waiting. Some people seemed to be holding their breath.

"I will give each of you a flash drive. You should consider the flash drive more important than your life: let's say that it holds the name of every graduate from your school. The people that are after this flash drive wish to retrieve these. With me so far?"

"Yes, sir," everyone said in unison.

"Good." A light suddenly came on and Joe Solomon moved about the van, not the least bit unsteadily. He handed out a flash drive to each individual. "You will have seven hours, ladies and gentlemen. Seven hours to lose whatever tails may be following you and meet me at the designated spot."

Bex and Cammie looked at each other with knowing eyes. They'd done this before. And it hadn't gone so well the last time. But they were ready this time.

Mr. Solomon picked up on it. "You may think you've dealt with this before, but you're dead wrong. The space is bigger. The players are smarter. And, ladies and gentlemen, this _will_ be the hardest thing you've ever done. Now, pocket your flash drives."

Everyone did so.

The moving van suddenly turned and then stopped. Mr. Solomon smiled at them all and tossed a plain white envelope down at Zach's feet. "See you in seven hours."

Then, he was gone.

Zach reached for the envelope and pulled out a white index card.

"What's it say?" Bex asked, adrenaline already pumping through her body.

"Central Park," Zach said in a curious voice and then raised the door at the back of the van.

"We're in New York City!" Tina cried, both joyful and apprehensive.

Cammie gulped. Something told her that Mr. Solomon had been right about everything. Something told her that this really _was_ going to be the hardest mission she'd had so far. With a resigned sigh, she jumped out of the van, Bex close on her heels.

"Partners?" Bex asked.

"Partners," Cammie agreed. If she were to have anyone on her side, she would want it to be her best friend.

"Come on, Grant," Zach said and then they passed Cammie and Bex. "Good luck, ladies."

"You too," Cammie murmured and then took off.

…...

"I don't even know where Central Park _is_," Bex complained.

"First thing's first," Cammie said as they headed into a store. "We need different clothes."

"Now you're talking," Bex grinned and they moved amongst the racks.

When they stepped back out of the store, Cammie was wearing jeans, a purple blouse, and the jacket that she had brought with her, along with comfortable shoes. Bex was wearing skinny jeans, a white long-sleeved blouse, and boots. Both of them were carrying large handbags that they used to hide their school clothes. And Cammie had put her flash drive into the side pocket of her purse. Bex had hers in the pocket of her skinny jeans.

"What now?" Bex asked.

"Food," Cammie muttered as she put a hand over her growling stomach. "I'm starved."

"Hot dog stand," Bex pointed. "New York hot dogs are supposed to be the best."

At the hot dog stand, Cammie also got directions to Central Park, which turned out to be on the other side of the city.

"We'll have to take a cab," Bex said, her mouth full of hot dog.

Cammie swallowed before nodding. "Right. Seen any tails yet?"

"Not so far," Bex admitted. "Which bothers me."

"Mr. Solomon said that the players are smarter. Wouldn't be surprised if they were all the best field agents that the CIA has to offer."

"I can hear them laughing now," Bex said dryly and then waved down a cab. "How many cabs do you think we should take to lose them?"

Cammie thought for a moment. "Ten. Definitely ten."

"Ten it is," Bex said and opened the door of the cab that had pulled over. "After you."

…

"I don't like this," Grant said as he glanced at his watch. "We've been here four hours and we haven't seen any tails."

Zach had to admit that he felt a little uneasy as well. "What about that guy? Didn't we see him a few blocks back?"

Grant looked at the man as he passed and shook his head. "No. That was a different man, I'm sure of it."

Zach was feeling frustrated. "I don't understand what's going on." The mission should have been simple enough. Get a flash drive to Central Park safely and without bringing a tail along. But how were you supposed to avoid bringing a tail along when you couldn't see any tails?

"Maybe that's it!" Grant suddenly said. "Maybe Mr. Solomon just wants us to _think_ that this is a hard mission. Maybe there's nothing to it at all. Maybe no one is even following us."

Zach had to admit, that sounded like something that Mr. Solomon might do. "You may be right. But let's keep going like we've been doing, just to be safe."

Grant nodded. "Flip."

They flipped and continued walking. "How do you think the girls are doing?"

Grant shrugged. "Wouldn't know. But I haven't seen anyone that we know."

Zach shook his head. "Me either. Hey, what about that girl?"

Grant eyed the girl for a moment and then shook his head. "She's shorter than the one we saw twenty minutes ago. And this one's even wearing heels."

Zach groaned in frustration. "Come on; let's get a cab. And we'll take the subway, too."

"Excellent."

…

Seven hours after the drop-off, the small crowd of teenagers waited in Central Park, most of them shivering from the cold.

"Did anyone else fail to notice any tails?" Tina Walters asked. "Or was it just me?"

"I didn't notice anything either," Anna said.

"Us either," Bex said dejectedly.

Zach wasn't about to admit that he hadn't, either, and neither was Grant. They stood by silently, hands in the pockets of their jeans. They decided that it didn't matter that they hadn't spotted any tails. They had made it on time, and with their flash drives. In fact, no one had even tried to take their flash drives at all. Zach was pretty sure that Grant had been right from the beginning. It hadn't even been a real mission; Mr. Solomon had just been testing them. He'd probably been waiting and watching to see if they would do all of the correct maneuvers.

"Hello, everyone," Mr. Solomon said as he stepped into the glow of the streetlight, appearing as if from nowhere.

"We're on time," Cammie said.

Mr. Solomon nodded slowly. "Yes, Ms. Morgan, you are. But I'm afraid you did not succeed."

Everyone was shocked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Yes, we did!"

"We totally succeeded!"

"We're all here and there aren't any tails!"

Mr. Solomon's smile said that he was very amused and maybe just a bit disappointed. "Yes, you are all here. And very punctual, I might add. But the flash drives are gone."

Everyone began to reach for their flash drives in the place that they'd been stowed away. And then people began to look harder. In their other pockets, in their handbags, everywhere.

And then, everyone looked at Mr. Solomon, shocked beyond belief.

Every single flash drive had been taken.


	5. From the Other Point of View

_**From the Other Point of View**_

Scotty had hardly said a word since the boys had arrived at New York City. Michael was concerned, but he didn't know if he should say something or just let him brood. Scotty did, after all, have every right to complain. Not only was he being uprooted from his home like the other guys, but he had a broken arm as an added bonus. Finally, Michael decided not to say anything. Not yet.

The boys all got a table at a neat restaurant and sat outside, watching the world spin around. Despite the hustle and bustle of the New Yorkers, Michael felt at peace. At the Ghengis Academy, they taught you to find peace within yourself so that you'd be able to find it anywhere.

"You feeling okay, Scotty?" Taylor asked. He was the youngest of the crew, and perhaps he hadn't quite figured out when it was best to just leave Scotty alone. "Is your arm bothering you?"

Scotty looked over at Taylor with a look that could have killed and opened his mouth to say something when Michael coughed loudly and interrupted. "Anybody else need a drink refill?"

"I do," Scotty said, catching the drift. "I'll walk with you."

Michael nodded and picked up the two glasses. "Come on, then."

No one paid them any mind as they made their way to the soda.

"He gets on my nerves," Scotty mumbled.

"He's concerned," Michael chided as he filled his friend's glass with Dr Pepper. "How _is_ your arm feeling?"

"It's fine," Scotty defended. "That fancy crap they used on me really fixed it up. I don't even see why I need this brace."

"So, it's not your arm that's bothering you?" Michael had never suspected that it had. He took his time filling his glass with Sierra Mist.

"No," Scotty said with an aggravated sigh. "Why are we here, Michael?"

Michael put his glass aside and leaned his hip against the counter, angling his body so that he was facing Scotty. "We're going to the Gallagher Academy, Scotty. You were at the meeting."

"Why do we have to go?" Scotty asked, his green eyes flaring with anger. "Their school _can't_ be as good as ours. And why did we have to come alone?"

So, that was it. Scotty felt abandoned by their teacher. The master of their school.

"I don't know, Scotty." Michael picked up the glasses and handed the Dr Pepper to him. "But if he sent us, then he has a reason. A _good_ reason."

"I know," Scotty said, his words coming out in a rush. "But he sent us away so easily. And what is our purpose supposed to be at this Gallagher Academy? What are we really going to be learning? And why couldn't he have come with us? Would that have really been so bad? I just…" Scotty took a deep breath. "I just don't understand, Michael. I really don't."

Michael opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted when Clyde came walking casually over to them with the cover of needing to fill his glass again. "Hey, guys. Just saw the first pair of them. Couple of girls."

"Names?" Michael asked. Prior to this shindig, they'd been given files with the names and faces of every girl and guy that they were going to have to steal flash drives from.

"Cameron Morgan and Rebecca Baxter," Clyde said and pulled his glass away to take a long drink.

Michael nodded. "You can handle them, right?"

Clyde nodded and took another long drink. "You want the rest of them to head out?"

Startled, Michael realized that he was the leader now. He realized that it should have made sense earlier to him. He was, after all, the oldest. And he was considered the best.

"Yeah," Michael said after a moment. "Tell them to go ahead and go. Split the targets easily."

"That's not an even number," Scotty pointed out.

"I'll take the extra," Michael volunteered. "Scotty, are you even up for this?"

Scotty scoffed. "It's a broken arm, not a coma. Come on, Michael. Be serious."

Michael smiled at his friend. "Let's go, then."

As they began to walk towards the exit, Scotty froze and then turned around. "Wait!"

"I thought you said you were ready!" Michael called.

Scotty began to jog and shouted over his shoulder, "I am, I just want to take a Danish to go!"

Michael rubbed a hand over his face and let out a long sigh.

…

The boys named Grant and Zach were conveniently located together, walking towards an unknown destination. Michael was following behind them, blending into the crowd like he did so naturally. It was called being a pavement artist, and Michael had been born one. Michael had been born a lot of things, actually.

As the boys began to cross an intersection, Michael went to work. He got the flash drive from Zach, first, and then took Grant's. It took him less than twenty seconds, and he was astonished that it had been so easy. He had at least expected them to flinch or to turn, wondering who had bumped into them. Maybe he had even expected to get caught. These boys had been trained, too, right?

Well, if they had been trained, they hadn't been trained as well as Michael. Not that he was surprised about that part. There were none better than the men of the Ghengis Academy.

He parted from them as soon as he had crossed the street and then glanced at his watch. He decided that he might as well follow these two, since they were trying to figure out where they were going, anyway. It was nearing seven, and they wouldn't be going for much longer.

"Hey, Scotty," he said before Scotty had even fallen into step beside him.

Scotty smiled as they walked together. "Hey, Michael. How's the pickins?"

"Too easy," Michael said.

"I hear that," Scotty admitted and patted his jean pockets, where his stolen flash drives were concealed. "Didn't he say that they've been trained?"

"That's the story," Drake said and joined their little group. "But I don't really see the evidence. All of this was way too easy."

"What'd you think, Clyde?" Scotty asked.

Clyde fell into step with them from behind and said, "I agree with you guys. You think they're from a school for, like, remedial spying?"

Everyone let out a laugh and Taylor joined the group. "Hey guys! How'd it go?" Taylor was fairly new and always eager, but the rest of them knew that would soon wear off. He'd become a veteran soon enough.

"I guess the girl's school is remedial, too, then," Niko said and shot a grin at them all. "I mean, seriously, they didn't even flinch."

Scotty smirked. "Or maybe we're just that good."

"That, too," Drake agreed.

"Central Park," Michael noted. "I guess that makes sense. Big space, lots of people, especially at this time of the day. No one will really be paying attention to them."

"Except for us," Niko pointed out.

Michael nodded. "Except for us. Come on; let's split up."

They did as he said and left in groups of two.

…

The trees were a perfect spot to watch the group, and the boys took advantage of this. They sat up in the trees and watched.

"Did anyone else fail to notice any tails?" a blonde girl was asking. "Or was it just me?"

"I didn't notice anything, either," a small girl said.

"Us, either," said the girl I knew to be Bex. Supposedly (according to the file), both of her parents worked for M16.

And then, a blonde man that the boys knew to be Joseph Solomon stepped out into the open and addressed the group with a disappointed kind of smile. "Hello, everyone."

The girl known as Cameron Morgan spoke up. "We're on time."

Michael and Scotty exchanged a look. Yes, the girls and guys were on time, but they had failed. They had made sure of that.

Mr. Solomon nodded. "Yes, Ms. Morgan, you are. But I'm afraid you did not succeed."

Scotty was grinning. Michael was just observing.

It seemed that everyone was speaking at once.

"What are you talking about?"

"Yes, we did!"

"We totally succeeded!"

"We're all here and there aren't any tails!"

"Wrong," Scotty muttered.

Michael shook his head slowly. "Look at them, arguing with their teacher."

"We'd be dead by now," Scotty agreed.

Mr. Solomon took it well, though. Much better than the teacher at Ghengis Academy would have. "Yes, you are all here. And very punctual, I might add. But the flash drives are gone."

Everyone seemed very confused as they searched and searched for the missing flash drives. It took a minute for them to all calm down, and then there were a flurry of voices.

"How did this happen?"

"We didn't see any tails at all!"

"Who took the flash drives?"

Mr. Solomon motioned to them all to follow him. "I told you, ladies and gentlemen, that the players would be smarter. I had hoped that you would take that to heart."

Every single person hung their heads as they followed their teacher away.


	6. Speculation

_**Speculation**_

Needless to say, the ride home was long. And even Bex did not sleep. Every single person in the helicopter (minus the unknown pilot) was disappointed: Mr. Solomon in his students and the students in themselves. No one knew how they had been outdone. None of them had felt anything… How had the flash drives been taken? Zach, especially, was disappointed. But not only disappointed – he was _angry_. He hated himself for failing. And he wanted to know _who_ had shown him up.

After they got back to the mansion, Cammie and Bex went up to their room and told Liz and Macey about what had happened. They were shocked, too, and suggested that there was another spy school. While Cammie and Bex disagreed, Macey and Liz suggested that they just give it a chance and do some research the following day. Only because it was Saturday and they had already finished their COW homework, Bex and Cammie agreed.

But Cammie regretted it as soon as Liz shook her awake at six in the morning.

"No," Cammie groaned.

"Cammie, come on," Liz sighed.

Macey had more luck with Bex. "Bex, wake up."

"Don't think so."

"Don't you wanna know who those people are? You know, the ones that bested you?"

Bex was up in an instant and flipped the mattress over on Cammie so that she would wake up.

Macey and Liz went on ahead to get breakfast from the kitchen and Cammie and Bex dressed before leaving the room.

"Think we'll be able to turn anything up?" Bex asked as they walked.

"I don't know," Cammie replied and re-fixed her ponytail. "But if anyone can find something, it's Liz."

"We'll be there for hours."

"I know."

They reached the vending machine, where Liz and Macey were waiting with packages of Pop-Tarts. After the breakfast had been handed out, Liz reached into the pocket of her jeans and took out a quarter. "Ready, guys?"

"Yeah."

"Go for it."

Macey just watched with fascination. It would be her first time to go down to the private research labs. She was actually a bit excited by that fact.

Liz pushed A-25 on the vending machine and it disappeared, revealing one of the top research labs in the country. Macey looked around in wonder as the rest of the girls simply headed in and sat down.

"How are we supposed to start this?" Cammie asked as she spun around in the chair. "I mean, do you really think Google will turn anything up on other spy schools?"

"No," Liz said. "But the CIA database might."

Bex, Macey, and Cammie looked at her in shock.

It was Macey that spoke. "I know that I'm still pretty new around here, but I thought that the CIA database was impossible to crack."

"It is," Bex and Cammie replied.

"Is not," Liz defended with a small pout as she powered up the big computer. "No one has tried hard enough yet. I can do it."

"This should be entertaining," Bex muttered and put her head down on the table. "Up for a nap, Cam?"

"Sure," Cammie replied and laid her head down, too.

"Shouldn't we be paying attention?" Macey asked, biting her lower lip.

"What are we gonna do?" Bex asked, eyes still closed. "Liz is the code cracker, not us. I will readily admit that I can't hack into the CIA database."

"Me, too," Cammie agreed.

Macey sighed and joined her friends. Before long, all of them except for Liz were asleep.

Liz was working intently, staring at the screen as if her life depended on it. Her fingers flew over the keys as wall after wall of defense popped up to distract her. She wasn't intimidated, though. She just kept her focus.

Before long, she realized that she had broken through enough to see a few things. It was some type of list.

**Number of Safe Houses: 1,256**

**Number of Deployed Agents: 67**

**Number of Secret CIA Affiliated Academies: 3**

Liz froze and stared at the screen. Three secret CIA affiliated academies? Gallagher was definitely one. Blackthorne made two.

There was a third.

She immediately tried to go after that knowledge. More walls blocked her, but she kept trying. She'd never wanted anything more in her whole life. She _had_ to know what that other school was. Because they were the ones that had beaten Cammie and Bex. And it was quite possible that they would be meeting face to face soon enough. That's how it had happened with Blackthorne.

Another wall popped up and Liz desperately tried to break through. But, this wall was too tough and she knew that her mind was already worn down enough. She decided that she just needed a short break for a while before she attempted anything else. Exhausted, she slumped down in her chair in a way that would have made Madame Dabney faint.

Finally, after a few minutes, she cleared the computer's history so that no one could see what she had been doing. That would be a tough one to explain. And her fingerprint was on the quarter.

Three spy schools.

Gallagher.

Blackthorne.

And some other school.

The thought actually excited Liz. After all, she hadn't thought that another school was out there. How great would it be to meet more people like her? Another secret society of the elite. She sincerely hoped that they would meet soon. She would, of course, ask how they had managed to stay under the radar for so long. And Cammie and Bex would want their rematch, naturally.

"Guys," Liz said as she stood up, unable to keep the news any longer.

"What?" Macey asked as her head shot up.

Cammie and Bex were a little slower.

"What, Liz?"

"Did you find something?"

"I couldn't get all the way through," Liz admitted, a bit disappointed in herself. "But I saw a little bit."

"And?" Bex questioned, impatient.

"There's one more spy school out there somewhere."

…...

"What are you hoping to accomplish by this?" Grant asked as he sighed and shut the book. He added it to the 'no' pile.

"Anything," Zach growled. He hadn't slept at all. Not on the helicopter ride, not once he was back in the room. Being bested was something that had _never_ happened to Zachary Goode before and he _certainly_ didn't like the feeling. He had always prided himself in being the very best that Blackthorne had trained (except for the obvious exception of Joe Solomon), but it seemed that he had finally met his match.

He just didn't know who they were.

"Well, we're making a lot of progress," Grant said sarcastically. "Fifteen books in the 'no' pile, one book in the 'maybe' pile, and no books in the 'yes' pile."

"We'll find something," Zach said, desperate. He hated not knowing something. He loved knowing things that he wasn't supposed to know, but being on the not knowing end was killing him. "There has to be something in here. Just pay really close attention. One sentence could be an indicator."

Grant yawned. "I've been looking. I'm just tired. You kept me up all night with your speculation."

Jonas finally spoke from his seat. "And you guys said that you never felt _anything_? You didn't see _any_ signs?"

"I felt something," Zach admitted, ashamed. He stared down at his book. "It was a feeling, but I thought that it was just because people kept bumping into me. I mean, it's New York. It was crowded and busy."

"I guess we got used to it after a while," Grant nodded. "I kind of stopped noticing when it was happening. I guess I just figured that if someone was trying to pick my pocket, I would know it. Know what I mean?"

Zach nodded. "That's exactly how I felt. I was just _so_ sure that it wouldn't be all that hard."

"Me either," Grant admitted. "I thought the mission was a fake. I guess I let my guard down a little too much."

"It won't happen again," Zach vowed and shut the book before adding it to the 'no' pile. "Ugh, none of these books are helping."

"You'd figure that a secret spy academy would have some reading materials over other secret spy academies," Grant agreed and picked up another book. "Jonas? Any luck on your computer?"

Jonas rubbed his eyes and let out a sigh. "I've tried everything. Except for hacking into the CIA, of course. That would be ludicrous."

"This is ludicrous," Zach growled and shut another book that he hadn't even gotten far in. "There's _nothing_ here."

"Then I guess we'll have to fly blind," Grant said, though he liked the idea about as much as Zach did.

"I don't like it," Zach said and stood to put some of the books back. "But I think you're right. We're just going to have to be extra careful from now on."

Grant took the remaining books and followed him. "Great. Extra careful in a world where we're already extra careful. We're not walking on eggshells anymore. We're walking on water."


	7. The Men From Ghengis Academy

_**The Men From Ghengis Academy**_

It seemed that reports of the Gallagher Girls and Blackthorne Boys were becoming rampant. The junior group talked about how they'd been taken to Chicago with the mission of protecting flash drives, and they had failed. The same thing happened to the sophomores in St. Louis.

"Who _are_ these people?" Macey grumbled one morning over breakfast. She hadn't thought it was so serious when it had happened to Bex and Cammie, but it had happened to her while she was with the junior class in Chicago, and she didn't like it one bit. She was angry and if she ever met the people that had shown her up, she was going to give them a piece of her mind. "I'll bet it's a group of older CIA men like Mr. Smith that have had years and years of experience." Her voice became very sarcastic. "I hope they get a lot of joy out of the fact that they outsmarted a bunch of school kids."

Cammie said nothing and chose instead to stare at her waffle, which had absorbed most of the syrup that she had poured over it. She, too, was perturbed. They hadn't been able to find much in the CIA system, except for… "Or it could be that other school."

"Cammie," Bex sighed. "If there was another school that was as good as us, we would have met them already."

"It's probably for people like me," Liz said. "You know, there are regular colleges and then there are technical institutes for the braniacs. That's probably what this school is; just a school for the techs."

"Maybe," Cammie said. "But I have a feeling that it's something else. Maybe, if we would just try to hack in again…"

Liz sighed. "Cammie, it would be a waste of time. I don't have my new software developed yet and I definitely need that to make more progress than I did last time."

"How long until it's ready?" Macey asked.

Liz shrugged. "Give it a month."

"I'm not sure I can wait a month," Cammie groaned. "I hate not knowing things."

"All spies do."

Just then, Cammie's mother stood at the front of the room and called out, "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please."

It grew silent and everyone looked at her, waiting.

Well…almost silent. Liz took the opportunity to whisper, "I think we're about to find out what you don't know, Cammie."

Cammie had been thinking exactly the same thing and she stared hard at her mother, on the edge of the bench seat.

"As I'm sure you all know, our girls and the Blackthorne men have been taken out on recent missions, and all of you have, unfortunately, failed." She gave a sad sort of knowing smile. "I'm sure you're all most curious as to who it is that had beaten you."

"Just a little," Macey said sarcastically.

Cammie's heart began to thump wildly in her chest and she knew that she was closer to the answer that she had been wanting since she'd realized that her flash drive was missing.

"There is a school for the elite of our kind," Headmistress Morgan said solemnly. "The men that train there are the best and brightest, and they have never made themselves known until today. The staff here has managed to convince the headmaster of the Ghengis Academy to allow his students to come here to be with us for the remainder of the school year. So, please welcome the men of the Ghengis Academy."

The door opened and the new boys walked in.

"There are only six of them?" someone said in shock.

Cammie had to agree that she was shocked as well. It had only taken six of them to defeat every single one of them?

Not wanting to be beaten again, Cammie looked each of the boys over as they made their way to the front.

One looked to be much younger than the others, though he carried himself with maturity beyond his years. He had dark hair and hazel eyes, and he wore jeans and a pale blue T-shirt with Nike Shox.

The next boy was a little older than the first one, and he looked to be Chinese – he had the same dark hair and eyes and facial features. He looked to be a little softer than the others, but Cammie knew that probably didn't mean a thing. For all she knew, he could have been the one to take her flash drive.

The next boy was slightly older than the previous two and he had brownish blonde hair that was messier than Zach's. His eyes were dark brown and he looked as though he wasn't really sure that he wanted to be here.

Next to him, there was a guy with pale blonde hair and bright hazel eyes. This boy walked just like the others, head up and eyes straight ahead, though Cammie knew that he was seeing everything around him like any good operative would do.

The next boy was peculiar, if only because Cammie could tell that he had been injured recently. He walked with an odd sort of limp that said that he'd had some strange sort of procedure done on it recently. His arm also sported a cast, though he looked plenty tough. His hair was curlier than any Cammie had ever seen and it was a darker shade of brown than her mother's. His eyes were pale and green.

And then Cammie saw the next boy and knew that he was the leader of the group. He walked with that air of confidence that Cammie had always wished she possessed, and his bright blue eyes made it look as though he knew everything in the world. He had dark brown hair that was slightly messy up at the top and when he reached the front, he turned to face all of the girls; the other boys flanked him automatically.

And then, the most shocking thing happened…

Mr. Solomon inclined his head to the boys as a gesture of utmost respect.

Bex, Macey, Liz, and Cammie all shared a look.

_These boys must be legit._

…

"We're so happy to have you here," Headmistress Morgan told the six young men.

Scotty opened his mouth to say something, but Michael quickly spoke before his friend could say anything disrespectful or rude. After all, they had a reputation to uphold. Sure, no one in that room – save for the staff – knew about the Ghengis Academy, but first impressions were everything and Michael was not going to let his school down. "It's so great to be here. Thank you for having us."

"I was going to say that," Scotty mumbled, though he most certainly would not have been so polite about it.

"Sure you were," Drake muttered back.

"We have your schedules all planned out," Headmistress Morgan continued as she handed each boy a sheet of paper. "Will you be needing maps of the school?"

"We found some pretty detailed ones online," Niko said. "CIA issue, of course."

Headmistress Morgan looked impressed. "Well, then. We were just in the middle of breakfast, if you all would like to grab a plate and go through the buffet."

"We're sorry for interrupting breakfast," Michael said. "And thank you so much."

She nodded and the boys all headed over for the buffet.

"They're staring at us," Scotty mumbled, agitated as he always was after a long helicopter ride.

"Maybe they're staring at you," Drake shot back. Drake rarely liked to put up with Scotty's nonsense. "Because you have a cast and everything. You look like a bit of a freak."

"Cut it out," Michael said sternly and the two boys fell silent. "Both of you – all of us – need to remember that we're here to represent our school. And I, for one, am going to do a good job of it. I suggest that you all do the same."

There were murmurs of assent from the rest of the boys.

After all of the boys had filled their plates and grabbed glasses of water, they headed off to an empty section at one of the long tables.

"I don't like these stares," Scotty muttered as he chewed on his bacon. "It's rude."

"Then we'll just have to be classier than them," Michael replied. "Taylor, I'll switch you my pear for your apple. You got the last one."

"Sure."

They switched.

"I'm about to stand up and announce that at the Ghengis Academy, stares are considered rude," Scotty said.

"No," Michael said calmly as he buttered a pancake. "You're not."

Scotty let out a long sigh. "Can I stare back at them?"

"No. You need to chill. Calm is your friend."

"Then why does it keep running away?" Scotty muttered.

"Maybe because you keep pushing it away," Michael suggested. "Anybody else have CoveOps first thing?"

"I do," Scotty said.

"Excellent. I hear Joe Solomon's a good teacher."

Taylor groaned. "I don't have classes with anyone!"

Scotty suddenly stared at a girl that had been eyeing him since they came in. "If she doesn't-"

"Scotty!" Michael scolded. "Calm is your friend."

"Whatever," Scotty grumbled and went back to eating his bacon.


	8. This is Jeopardy!

_**Hey, guys! I just put up another Gallagher Girls fanfiction called AT DEATH DID WE PART. Please check it out and review it to let me know if you like it or not! Thanks!**_

_**This is Jeopardy!**_

After breakfast, Mr. Solomon was waiting for the two boys from the Ghengis Academy that were going to be in his class first. "Michael, correct?" he asked as he shook the taller one's hand.

"Yes, sir," Michael said and Joe instantly knew that this kid was exactly the type of guy he'd want his son to be, if he had any kids.

"And Scotty?" Mr. Solomon questioned as he extended his hand to the other one.

"That's me," the curly-haired boy said and had to pointedly hold out his other hand because his right hand was in a cast.

"Sorry," Joe said quickly as he shook Scotty's hand. "How'd that happen?"

Scotty cringed. "Skiing accident."

"Snowboarding," Michael corrected with a teasing grin.

Scotty shot him a look. "Skiing sounds cooler."

"You're in my class as of right now," Mr. Solomon said. "I was going to escort you there."

Michael gave him a polite nod. "Thank you so much."

"Shall we?"

As they headed down the corridor, Scotty mumbled, "They're still staring."

"They're girls," Mr. Solomon said from a few feet in front of the two guys. "It was like that when I first came here, too. You all will be the hot topic for a while, I'm afraid."

"Nothing like being watched twenty-four-seven," Michael said good-naturedly.

"You're too happy for having been on a long helicopter ride starting at four am this morning," Scotty said.

Joe smiled and knew that the rumors were true. The young men of the Ghengis Academy were closer than brothers. Scotty and Michael's banter only proved it.

…

"The name of the game is Jeopardy," Mr. Solomon said and smiled when he saw all of the girls' open mouths. Instead of their usual desks, there were rows of benches and at the front of the room, there were seven podiums, six right beside each other and one a little ways away. The chalkboard had been replaced by something called a SmartBoard, and on it, there were the little blue tiles that symbolized a Jeopardy game – though all of the tiles were blank.

"We're playing Jeopardy?" someone said, shocked.

Mr. Solomon nodded and smiled. "That's correct, Ms. Morrison. I figured _some_ of you might want to… extract some revenge."

Here, Bex's chin raised a whole inch. "Who gets to compete?" She was _not_ going to lose again.

Mr. Solomon smiled. "Two participants from every school. Michael and Scotty, that means you two win your school's election by default; come on up here. The rest of you will be voting for your candidates. Choose well."

"Jeopardy," Scotty scoffed as he took his place behind the second podium from the left. He knew that Michael would want to be on the end.

"I like Jeopardy," Michael shrugged as he took his place.

"I hate it," Scotty grumbled. "It's the only show that's ever on at our place."

"I don't see how you would know that," Michael said simply, holding back a smile. "Seeing as how you sneak out to snowboard rather than stay and watch TV with the rest of us."

Scotty said nothing.

Finally, it had been decided that Cammie and Bex would represent Gallagher, and Zach and Grant would represent Blackthorne.

"If only Liz were here," Cammie mumbled.

"Amen," Bex whispered back.

"Okay," Mr. Solomon said from behind his "Trebek" podium. "I trust that you all know how this game works. Now, here are your categories. The Bible, Hints from Heloise, Nature, Minnesotans, Sports, and What's the Pitch? Scotty, you can pick first."

"Because I have a cast on my arm and I'm a weakling?" Scotty asked.

Michael elbowed him. "Calm is your friend."

Scotty cleared his throat. "Um, What's the Pitch for a hundred."

Mr. Solomon read the clue. "The Breakfast of Champions."

Scotty buzzed in. "What is Wheaties?"

"Correct. Still your turn."

"For two hundred."

"The Great American Chocolate Bar."

Cammie buzzed in. "What is Hershey's?"

Mr. Solomon smiled at her. "Very good, Cammie. Your pick."

"Same category," she said. "For three hundred."

"You deserve a break today."

Michael buzzed in. "What is McDonalds?"

"Good. Your pick."

"Same category for four hundred."

"Let your fingers do the walking."

Before Zach could buzz in, Michael did. "What are The Yellow Pages?"

"Correct."

Michael nodded. "Same. For five hundred."

"Because time goes by."

Scotty buzzed in. "What is Kodak?"

"Never knew you were interested in photography," Michael said with a teasing grin.

Scotty shot him a look and said, "I'll pick a category for you, Michael. The Bible, for one hundred."

Mr. Solomon read off the clue. "This city, the birthplace of Jesus, was also where Samuel appointed Kind David."

Zach buzzed in. "Where is Jerusalem?"

"That's incorrect," Mr. Solomon said.

Michael buzzed in. "Where is Bethlehem?"

"Correct," Mr. Solomon said.

"Same category for two hundred."

"In Genesis, God told this creature it would eat dust "all the days of thy life"."

Scotty buzzed in. "What is the snake?"

"Mmm…." Mr. Solomon said.

Michael buzzed in. "What is the serpent?"

"Correct," Mr. Solomon said.

"Oh, I forgot that the Bible has different language from the regular world," Scotty mumbled.

Michael smiled. "Three hundred."

"After he was called forth from the dead, he appeared "bound hand and foot with graveclothes"."

Michael buzzed in. "Who is Lazarus?"

"Correct."

"Four hundred."

"The Latin Vulgate calls this book of the Bible "Liber Judicum"."

Michael buzzed in. "What is Judges?"

"Correct."

"For five hundred."

"The single longest of Paul's epistles is addressed to these people."

Michael, of course, buzzed in. "Who are the Romans?"

"Correct. Next category?"

Michael glanced at Scotty. "Now, I'll pick a category for you. Sports for one hundred."

"Regret, genuine Risk, and Winning Colors are the only fillies to win this Triple Crown race."

"I don't do horses," Scotty informed everyone.

Michael buzzed in. "What is the Kentucky Derby?"

"Correct," Mr. Solomon said.

Scotty stared at him. "Really, dude?"

Michael shrugged. "Lucky guess. Sports for two hundred."

"This sterling silver yachting trophy was designed by London's Robert Garrard Crown jewelers in 1848."

Scotty buzzed in. "What is the American's Cup?"

"Correct."

Scotty grinned. "Sports for five hundred."

"Bill Walton of this school was the outstanding player of the NCAA basketball tournament in 1972 and 1973."

Grant buzzed in. "What is Stanford?"

"Incorrect."

Scotty buzzed in. "What is UCLA?"

"Correct."

"Sports for four hundred."

"The insignia of this National League baseball team features a mountain peak."

Scotty buzzed in. "Who are the Colorado Rockies?"

"He loves baseball," Michael said by way of explanation to Scotty's sudden enthusiasm. "And dressing nicely, though clearly not today."

Several girls giggled but Scotty just rolled his eyes and said, "Sports for three hundred."

"American winners of this Olympic event include Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson, and Bruce Jenner."

Everyone thought for a moment and Bex finally decided to buzz in. "What is archery?"

"Incorrect."

Scotty buzzed in, looking unsure. "What is the decathlon?"

"Correct."

"Umm…" Scotty looked at Michael.

Michael shrugged. "Don't look at me."

Scotty looked back at the board. "We read a book about Minnesota a couple of years ago. Let's go with Minnesotans for four hundred."

"The oilman who founded a Malibu, California museum was born in Minneapolis in 1892."

Zach buzzed in. "Who is Getty?"

"Correct."

"Same category for five hundred," Zach said. He had a lot of ground to make up.

"In 1977 he was voted deputy president pro tem of the U.S. Senate, a position created for him."

Michael buzzed in. "Who is Hubert Humphrey?"

"Correct, and that was the daily double," Mr. Solomon said. "Next?"

"Let's try nature for one hundred."

"In 1845 the fungus disease phytophthora infestans rotted these vegetables all over Europe."

Bex buzzed in, just needing to guess to try to gain a little ground. Even Cammie had gotten at least one right. "What are carrots?"

"Incorrect."

Scotty buzzed in. "What are potatoes?"

"Correct."

"Same category for two hundred."

"To aid its noctumal habits, these facial features on a tarsier are each as big as its brain."

Michael buzzed in. "What are eyes?"

"Correct."

The game continued this way for some time, all the way up to the last question. "You can do this to many wrinkled fabrics over a hot light bulb."

Bex buzzed in. "Iron them."

"Correct. That's game over, ladies and gentlemen; our class hour is almost up. Congratulations to Michael and Scotty, who have the two highest scores."

"I should have beaten you," Scotty informed Michael as they stepped away from the podium. "I totally knew that the Douglas fir belongs to the pine family."

"Then you should have buzzed in and said it," Michael replied. "I was just guessing."

"You know, Jeopardy is a lot more fun when you're playing it, as opposed to when it's just on TV every single night."

"You did good," Michael praised him.

"I want a rematch!" Bex insisted, obviously angry that she'd only gotten two questions right. "If we'd had Liz, she would have won!"

Mr. Solomon seemed to be thinking this over for a minute before he smiled at Michael. "Would you object to a rematch in front of the entire school?"

Michael shook his head and Scotty was grinning. At the same time, both of them said, "Bring it on."


	9. Notice Things

_**Notice Things**_

"A rematch," Scotty scoffed as he and Michael walked down the hall towards the elevator. "They can't be serious. After we beat them _that_ badly?"

Michael knew that everyone in that hall had the capability to listen in on their conversation; it's what they'd been trained to do. So, he decided it best to calm his friend. "Well, apparently there's a smarter member among them that wasn't in Mr. Solomon's class. And you can bet they'll be studying every random facts website and book that they can find."

Scotty punched the elevator button and his eyes were scanned first, then Michael's. When the door opened, Michael stepped aside and pulled Scotty with him so that three girls could step onto the elevator before them. All of the girls blushed and said 'thank you'.

Michael and Scotty stepped on after them and the elevator doors closed.

"That was impressive," a bold blonde girl said, smiling flirtatiously at Scotty and then at Michael. "You two were amazing."

"We know," Scotty said simply and stared at himself in the reflection of the elevator doors.

Michael slapped his friend upside the head. "I apologize for him; his flaw is lack of humility."

"And you'll have to forgive _him_," Scotty replied, shooting a teasing grin at his best friend. "His flaw is that he's _too_ perfect."

"He also has an annoying tendency to over exaggerate," Michael explained. "And, sometimes, flat-out lie."

"I'm Tina," the blonde girl said. "This is Anna and this is Mick."

"Ladies," Michael said politely and inclined his head.

Scotty inclined his head, but made no comment. He was afraid that if he talked to them, one of them would end up liking him and he didn't think that he could handle that. The good thing about the Ghengis Academy was that it was far from civilization. You didn't form any human attachments besides your brothers.

Scotty liked it that way.

But, little did he know that not talking actually made Tina and Mick like him _more_; they found him quite mysterious.

…

"Gallagher Girl, wait up!"

"Go ahead," Cammie told Bex softly and Bex gave her friend a nod before she stepped into the elevator with Grant, Eva, and a couple of other Blackthorne guys. The elevator doors closed and then her friend was gone.

Cammie turned to face Zach. "What?"

"I'm mad, too," he told her and it was obvious that he was. He didn't take defeat well; never had.

"I know," she said honestly and reached to press the elevator button.

Before her hand could touch it, however, Zach's hand was around her wrist and then he was in front of her, blocking her way. "Gallagher Girl, listen to me."

Cammie's heart began to beat a little faster, but she managed to hide it when she spoke. "Yes, Zach?"

His breath fanned her face and it smelled like spearmint. Cammie's mouth watered. "Those boys… There's something off about them."

She shook her head. "Zach, when you guys came here, we all thought there was something off about you all, too. And there is. There's something off about all of us."

"No," he said firmly. "That's not what I mean. There's something _else_. Something bigger."

She was thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about, Zach?"

He sighed. "I don't know how to word it. I just… Cammie, can't you feel it? There's something about these guys that just rubs me the wrong way. I don't like it."

Cammie didn't like losing, either, but Zach was just being crazy. "Zach, that's ridiculous. So they're smart; smarter than us. Big deal. I don't like the fact that they beat me anymore than you do, but we can't go jumping to conclusions."

"I'm not suggesting running them out," he said and moved again because Cammie had made a move towards the elevator. "I'm just suggesting that we _observe_. What is it that Mr. Solomon always says? Observation can save your life one day. _Notice things_."

"So, you want to spy on the new kids?"

Zach gave his famous smirk. "What great practice, huh?"

She sighed. "Well, I think it's stupid, but Bex will love it."

His face fell slightly. "I kind of thought that this could be a me and you thing."

_Me and you_… She made sure that she was completely composed before she said, "Zach, if you want to do this thing, then fine. But I'm only in if my girls can be in it with me. Take it or leave it."

He let out a huff of breath but he knew that there was no other way. "Okay, fine. Tell them at lunch and I'll talk to Grant and Jonas."

Cammie nodded. "Great. Now hurry up and press the button. We're going to be late for P&E."

…

"Liz, come on," Macey said with a roll of her eyes.

Liz finished writing in her new composition notebook and then looked at the water pitcher to check the reflection again. "Okay, he's eating an apple." She started to write that down.

"Do we really need _that_ much?" Macey asked in exasperation.

"Notice things, Macey," Liz said as she finished writing.

"Who cares that Taylor likes apples?" Macey asked.

Liz gave her a look. "That one's name is Niko, Macey. Taylor is the youngest one. Maybe _you_ should take notes, too."

Cammie had to agree that Liz was going a little overboard, but she didn't want to say anything because it would probably turn out that they would need those notes for something. Bex felt the same way.

"So, why weren't they in our P&E class?" Bex asked.

Liz answered without missing a beat while she turned to Drake's profile page and wrote something about him possibly being a vegetarian. "They have special schedules. I guess that there's just so few of them that Mrs. Morgan wants all of us to be able to observe them in action."

"Were any of them in your computer class?" Macey asked.

"Advanced Organic Chemistry," Liz corrected. "And yes. Niko was. And let me tell you, I was impressed."

"They could be robots," Macey suggested.

Bex snorted and milk almost came out her nose. "I'll agree that they seem perfect, but they're not robots."

"Just a theory," she said.

"What class did you have?"

"COW," Macey replied and flipped through another page of the latest fashion magazine. "Mr. Smith didn't really ask Drake that many questions, but he got the ones that were asked of him right. And his Russian is pretty flawless."

"Maybe you should be studying facts instead of writing about the boys," Bex suggested. "Since we don't know when this next Jeopardy game will come up."

Liz shook her head. "I'm all over it. I need to do this right now."

The other three girls decided not to argue and went on eating their lunch.

…

"COW was cool," Drake said in answer to Michael's question. "Mr. Smith seems like a really nice guy. He's had a lot of surgeries, too. He must be really paranoid."

"Or really smart," Michael shrugged.

Drake smiled. "He claimed that he had a very angry ex-wife looking for him. I'm not sure if he was making that up or not."

"Could go either way," Michael conceded and then asked Niko about chemistry.

"Dr. Fibbs is really intelligent," Niko said in approval. "Kind of clumsy, though. It made me so nervous when he was walking around and kept stumbling. I mean, he was holding a vial of cyanide. If that thing had broken…"

"Well, our class wasn't any better," Scotty said and proceeded to tell the other boys about the game they'd played in CoveOps. "So, now, they want a rematch because their smartest girl wasn't in there. It'll be a game involving the whole school, but there will only be three podiums this time and one person from every school will be chosen."

"Michael," the boys all said at once.

Michael rolled his eyes. "Niko's just as smart as I am. Smarter, when it comes to sciences."

Niko disagreed. "But I don't have as broad of a knowledge as you do."

"It's been settled," Scotty informed him. "You've been chosen."

Michael rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"The girls are observing us," Taylor said. "Just in case anyone wanted to know."

"We know," the other five boys said in unison.

"I hope they're getting some good stuff," Clyde said as he grinned and ran a hand through his short hair.

"It's annoying," Scotty grumbled. "I just want to be left alone."

"You've made that clear," Michael replied and bit into his garlic bread.

"Then why won't they leave me alone?" Scotty was sick of the girls already and it hadn't even been twenty-four hours yet.

Michael put down his bread and finished chewing the bite that he had in his mouth before he said, "Scotty-"

"I know, I know!" Scotty said as he stood up with his tray, with the intent of going to put it away. "Calm is my freaking friend!"


	10. Close, But No Cigar

_**Close, But No Cigar**_

Mr. Solomon had posted a note to the mirror. _Class will meet outside for the lesson today._

"This can't be good," Cammie groaned as she and Bex turned around to head for the main doors. "What could we possibly be doing now?"

"I hope it's a practical lesson," Zach said, he appearing by Cammie's side and Grant appearing by Bex's. "So we can finally show those new boys how it's done."

Cammie suddenly felt annoyed by Zach's hatred of these new boys. "They've already shown us how it's done, Zach. Or do you not remember New York?"

Zach felt like he'd been slapped in the face. "Of course I do. But that was one time."

"Then how 'bout _Jeopardy!_?" she retorted and took a few big steps so that she'd be ahead of him. She hated losing just as much as Zach did, but she also knew that losing had been her own fault, not the boys'. _She'd_ been the one that hadn't been good enough. And, yes, she wanted to beat them, but she wanted to at least lose with grace and dignity at the times that she did lose.

Bex caught up with her. "You okay?"

"I don't like the way he talks about them," she replied. "I understand that he's mad that he lost, but he needs to stop acting like he's four years old and-"

Suddenly, Bex and Cammie halted, and so did Zach and Grant, who were still a few steps behind them. They had almost collided with Michael and Scotty, who had reached the doors at the same time that they had.

"Sorry," Michael said and smiled at them as he pulled the door open and gestured for them to go out first. "Go ahead."

After a beat, Cammie shyly smiled back at him. "Thank you." And she went out.

Bex muttered her thanks as she followed Cammie.

Grant went out next, but of course Zach couldn't go out without making some kind of comment. It was directed at Scotty. "Finally got the cast off?"

Scotty, who was still recovering from the painkillers that the doctors in the infirmary had insisted on giving him, responded in a cold voice. "It hasn't been on all that long."

Zach shrugged and smiled cockily. "I just hope it doesn't affect your abilities today."

"I took the flash drive from your pocket with the cast _on_," Scotty responded, his expression completely neutral. "Just imagine how much better I'll be with it off."

At the mention of his previous failure, Zach stalked out the door, angry.

Michael sighed. "Would it kill you to try to make friends?"

"Yes," Scotty responded, totally serious. "For example, I tried to talk to one of the Blackthorne guys yesterday, and I swear, I could feel my throat closing up."

Michael rolled his eyes and bit back a smile as they walked out the door. "That's tragic."

"Very," Scotty agreed and shot a quick smile at Michael. "But you can be their friend, if you want."

"I've got this strange sense that those guys don't want me as their friend." They stopped walking a few feet away from the large group of Gallagher and Blackthorne students. He lowered his voice to a whisper so soft that only Scotty could hear it and he even spoke in Gaelic, which he knew that few (if any) of the other students would know. "And you're not the one that got the flash drive from Zach's pocket. I am."

Scotty simply smiled. "I know you are. But I got plenty of flash drives with my broken arm. _And_ my injured leg, not that I'm trying to get bonus points or anything. Besides, it wouldn't have made him near as mad if I hadn't actually been the one to take his flash drive."

"You weren't," Michael reminded him.

"He doesn't know that!"

Suddenly, a few white vans came driving up to the group, the Gallagher crest on the sides.

"Looks like we're going into town," someone said.

"Going into town," Scotty scoffed. "What kind of training is this?"

Michael had to agree, actually. "Just this once, I'll agree with you."

"I thought you also agreed with me about the whole Niko thing."

"I used to," Michael said as he and Scotty climbed into one of the crowded vans. "But then, he beat you, so…"

"He did not beat me!" Scotty exclaimed as the van took off. "Not really, anyway. It was a tie."

"What's the difference in a tie and losing?" Michael asked with a teasing grin at his friend. "Either way, you don't _win_."

Scotty, who knew that Michael was only doing this to make him angry, looked over at the guy sitting beside him, who looked away as soon as Scotty's head turned. "Grant, right?"

The guy looked over at him. "Uh, yeah."

"You think there's a difference between a tie and losing?"

Grant seemed at a loss for words. He looked over Scotty's head and at Michael.

Michael laughed. "Scotty, leave the poor guy alone."

"No! I want this settled." Scotty narrowed his eyes at Grant. "Do you?"

Before Grant could answer, Mr. Solomon spoke up from the driver's seat. "I have to agree with Michael on this one. Scotty, would you grab the box of comms from the middle console and pass them out?"

Scotty did as he was told and passed a comms out to Grant, Michael, Cammie, Bex, Zach, and then himself.

"Today, ladies and gentlemen, we will be playing tag and learning how to communicate in a field."

"But Roseville isn't exactly a busy town," Zach argued.

Scotty, who had read up on Roseville as soon as he'd found out where they were being sent and who wanted so badly to outdo Zach, said, "Except for today. There's a festival."

"Exactly right, Scotty," Mr. Solomon said as he wondered why he'd never learned the boys' last names. He decided that he would make it a priority to find out. But, then again, they probably weren't in the system.

"Bex," Cammie began.

"No partners, Ms. Morgan," Mr. Solomon told her. "You'll not always have someone walking right beside you in the field."

Cammie and Bex's faces fell, but Zach looked more determined than ever.

"Scotty," Mr. Solomon said. "I know that injuries are nothing to mess around with and the doctors talked to me and said that you probably shouldn't be doing training exercises for the next week."

Scotty's chin rose in the type of defiance that Michael had seen dozens of times before. "With all due respect to you, sir, and the doctors, they don't know my body. I do. I'll be fine."

Mr. Solomon had expected this and he simply nodded. "Very well. If you change your mind, you can come and find me and just observe."

"Thank you," Scotty said, but there was no chance that he would be doing that.

"Your classmates in the other van have been given similar instructions by the other chaperones," Mr. Solomon said. "Everyone should be clear on what to do. Michael, Scotty, I need your codenames."

"Scotty is Houdini," Michael informed him.

"And Michael is –" here, Scotty said some strange word that no one else in the van had ever heard before.

Even Mr. Solomon. "What does that mean?"

"We're all given names," Scotty informed everyone. "Mine is Houdini because I always seem to be disappearing from where I'm supposed to be. That word that I just said is from the language of the natives that live near us. It means 'invincible'."

Mr. Solomon repeated the word and then radioed the other vans to let the other students know about Michael and Scotty's radio names. Then, he filled in Michael and Scotty about the others' names.

"Remember, everyone, no partners."

Michael and Scotty exchanged a grin. They were brothers, and they had a way of being each other's partner without meaning to.

All of them hit the ground running when they got to the festival.

"Duchess has the quarter," Mr. Solomon informed everyone. "Zach, go and take it from her. Chameleon, how many windows from the west supply an adequate sniper threat?"

Cammie didn't miss a beat. "Four."

Zach had the quarter and he felt good about it. Until Scotty came out of nowhere and took it.

"Hey!" Zach protested.

Scotty turned and gave Zach a cocky grin that rivaled his own. "Take better care of your merchandise, Blackthorne. Didn't you hear Mr. Solomon's instructions that Michael and I are the enemy?"

Zach actually hadn't been paying attention. He'd been too happy that his brush pass reception had gone off without a hitch. He'd felt victorious.

"Give it back," Zach growled as he pushed past Scotty.

At the same time, unbeknownst to Zach, Michael came from the other side and snatched the quarter from Scotty's hand.

Zach was angry when he saw that he had somehow missed the quarter.

Scotty held up both of his hands to show that he didn't have the quarter. "Close, Zach. But no cigar." And then, he blended into the crowd.


End file.
